PITTSBURGH, PA – For the eighth time under King Rice and second time this season, Monmouth University Men's Basketball (8-2) topped a high-major opponent, beating the University of Pittsburgh (3-7) Sunday night 56-52. The win is the second over an ACC school under Rice and is MU's nation-leading sixth true road win of the season.
 
MU extended its lead to as many as 19 in the early stages of the second half, and the lead remained at double digits for all but 43 seconds of the first 15 minutes of the half. A 7-0 quick Pitt run cut it to five, and after Shavar Reynolds went 2-2 from the line, Pitt scored the next four to make it 55-52 with 28 seconds left. The Panthers were forced to foul multiple times just to get to the bonus, ultimately sending Papas to the stripe with 6.6 to go. He knocked in the front end to make it a four-point lead, and a miss on the second forced Pitt to scramble up the floor and the clock ran out, sending MU past its second high-major of the season.
 
After allowing a layup in the opening minute, Monmouth did not allow another Pitt field goal for 13:44, extending a lead to as many as 13 in that time. Papas hit his first two threes 26 seconds apart and added a third during the stretch that widened the MU lead. An 8-2 spurt capped by Klemen Vuga's first triple of the season had MU leading by 16, and Papas buried a long one in the closing seconds to send the Hawks to the break up 17.

NOTES AND QUOTES

"Tonight's game is a big time win for us. I like to come in these games and try to play you, I don't hold the ball or anything. Tonight we came in and played like ourselves. Our team, I'm so fortunate to have four super seniors, they're not going to get shaky, they're going to keep playing and tonight we got fortunate to get a win." – Head Coach King Rice

"Coming into an ACC building and getting a win is huge. Mature and together are definitely the words for this team, we know whatever is thrown at us we're going to stay together and handle it as a unit. That's what we've been doing and that's what we did tonight." – George Papas

"We've been doing great on the road, road wins are great for a team. These wins will help us in the long term. We've been very good to responding to adversity. We stay steady and we stay together, that's what championship teams do." – Shavar Reynolds
 
-Monmouth knocks off its second high-major opponent of the season and eighth under King Rice.
-MU picks up its second win over an ACC opponent under Rice (Notre Dame, 2015).
-Monmouth won its sixth true road game of the season, the most in the country.
-MU opens a season 8-2 for the first time since 2016-17.
-The Hawks won their seventh non-conference game, tied for the second most in program history.
-The Hawks topped Pitt for the first time in school history.
-Klemen Vuga made his first basket of the season, a first-half three.
-George Papas' five assists tie a season-high.
-This marked Monmouth's first ever road win at an ACC program.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth was outrebounded for the first time this season.
-MU outshot Pitt 40% to 34%.
-The Hawks limited the Panthers to 15% from three.
-MU led the final 38:10 of the contest.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth heads to Yale to take on the Bulldogs Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m.